(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a usage reservation(connection reservation) system for networked peripherals such as a printer, scanner, fax machine and the like.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Where a server system with peripherals such as printers, fax machines etc., connected thereto is connected to a multiple number of client systems interconnected on a network, there is a demand that these peripherals can be efficiently used from the client side.
For example, in the field of facsimile machines, a data communications system disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 5 No.176081, is configured to perform transmission by estimating time for transmission from the amount of transmission data and determining the time period in which use of facsimile is less frequent from the past transmission log. Similarly in the field of printers, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 6 No.168085, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 7 No.168482 disclose systems which extract processing time from the past log history.
However, it is impossible to obtain outputs from a peripheral in conformity with the business tasks, by taking into consideration the usage frequency of the peripheral and the amount of data output from the peripheral. In this way, in the conventional art, since the extracted usage times of the peripheral are not exact ones, which are not in conformity with the reservations of user's actual jobs but are those roughly estimated from the usage modes of the apparatus, there are more than a few cases where the user needs to adjust and change the usage reservation to the machine's schedule.
For example, conventionally, concerning register of a connection reservation of a printer, it is difficult to grasp the types, the time periods and volumes of usage reservations because the occupied time ranges differ depending upon the output contents from the printer. Further, if a usage reservation on the peripheral is not executed on schedule and if another user tries to use the peripheral, there could occur an event whereby the peripheral cannot be used despite the fact the peripheral is not in use because the peripheral has been booked for that time. In such a case, it is necessary for the user who is not going to use the peripheral at the scheduled time to cancel the reservation, but this requires tedious work.
Usage reservation of the peripheral may be made unsystematically without considering task priorities. For this reason, there are many cases which cause poor efficiency in view of functions shared by a group. Further, since other than the reservation priorities, some jobs may have a higher priority over others. So when some work is achieved by a group, it is preferred and efficient if the use of peripherals is task-oriented with jobs of more importance taking priority.
Depending upon task priorities, there may occur the necessity of changing the reservations. Such a change of a reservation without informing the user produces confusion in the working environment, definitely resulting in poor efficiency. There is also a demand that the usage reservation having been marked down to be changed should be re-assigned to other time.